Israeli anti-terrorist experts say the FBI is to blame for the tragedy in Waco, Texas, in which 86 cult followers of David Koresh are believed to have died in a blazing fire Monday.
Among those criticizing the FBI were Commander Assaf Hefetz, deputy inspector-general of the Israeli police and the founder of the border police’s anti-terror unit, and Knesset member Rehavam Ze’evi, former anti-terror adviser to the prime minister.
Both Hefetz and Ze’evi said they failed to understand why the FBI rushed to storm the cult’s compound, instead of waiting until the besieged Branch Davidians were forced to surrender.
The Waco operation was a failure, partly because it was too slow, said Hefetz, who directed the rescue operation of a hijacked Egged bus in the early 1980s during which several Israelis were killed.
The Waco operation should have been carried out quickly, not allowing the other party to take any action on its own, Hefetz said.
He said the use of tear gas gave cult members the opportunity to carry out an apparent mass suicide.
“The purpose of the action should have been to spare as many lives as possible and not to take action which would endanger lives,” Hefetz said.
“I don’t know what their considerations were, but it is quite clear that they have not taken into account all the alternatives,” he added.
“Everything should have been done to spare human lives,” said Ze’evi, since the continued siege presented no threat to the American people.
ISRAELI BELIEVED DEAD
Ze’evi, who is known to oppose any negotiations with terrorists, said the U.S. authorities could even have given in to Koresh’s demands.
Alternatively, he suggested, other tactics should have been used to tire him out.
The mother of Pablo Cohen, an Israeli who was a member of the Koresh gang and believed to have died in the fire, also questioned why the Americans rushed into the fortified complex.
“It is very difficult for me to understand how responsible authorities could take such action,” a sobbing Shulamit Cohen said in a radio interview.
The authorities were well aware of the fact that they were facing a lunatic, Cohen said, and therefore they should have been particularly careful in their action.
Cohen had not heard from her son since the beginning of the siege in February. Shortly before Passover, she sent him a cassette and a Haggadah, which the FBI told her reached her son.
The last time Cohen spoke to him was a week before the gunfight that started the 51-day standoff.
She tried to reach him by phone following the incident, but the line was constantly busy.
Pablo Cohen, a musician, met Koresh during a visit to Israel two and a half years ago. Koresh suggested that Cohen join his musical band, which performed with his cult.
Cohen originally joined Koresh in the United States for six months returned to Israel and went back to Koresh about a year and a half ago.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
